haloharris
A few hours ago I made a Facebook post talking about going deeper than what meets the eye when it comes to evangelism and I wanted to expound on that biblically to paint a clear picture on what The Most High God is calling us to do in the last days.
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,”
Matthew 24:12
The Bible says people of the world handle harshly with one another (Luke 16:8), so when you are evangelizing to someone who does not know the ways of God, their expression, disposition, and body language can reflect that they are shrewd, or have been handled shrewdly over and over again. The objective of the believer is to win them over with a gentle and kind spirit. Showing understanding, and not judging them for their outer appearance or expression, but gleaning inwardly and discerning what is happening spiritually. “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law, I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.” –1 Corinthians 9:20. Have you ever heard the expression, “don’t be so heavenly that you’re no earthly good?” What they are saying in a roundabout way is, don’t be religious. Religion says to do it this way, and the same way every time. the Bible says “I am the same yesterday today and forever”(Hebrews 13:8) and the Lord is doing a new thing! (Isaiah 43:19). God needs you to shift your mentality, approach, and attitude regarding being in the presence of people who don’t act godly (do a new thing), to win them over. He needs you to hit your mark, and shift your mentality to look beyond what they are doing and see them as God sees them in the spirit of the Lord. Once you can see the spiritual root of the problem, you will be able to find the right words to say to penetrate them spiritually at that moment, and good timing is everything.
As a believer of Christ, we are called to the lost sheep, and that means the people who are in low positions and don’t have a great deal of self-awareness, self-esteem, self-control, and tact. Or perhaps, they are just simply spiritually and emotionally immature, and when they become infuriated, they respond to having an emotional meltdown using very ugly words. If we are on assignment from God to graft them in, we must learn how to let them vent and while we still hit our mark spiritually and win them over.
If we are sound and sober-minded, we should be able to stay in good character and focus on the spiritual root of the problem, instead of immediately correcting the disposition of the person who is having an emotional breakdown. Sometimes you have to back up and be supportive at the moment, and let them calm down. Anger is the wind that blows out the lamp of the mind. When a person is angry or emotional, they are not hearing you until you use affirming gentle words to calm them down. “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”- Proverbs 15:1
Let me give you an example. A few months ago I stopped at the gas station in a bad part of town because I was about to run out of gas, and I did not have any other choice. When I got out of the car the debit machine at the pump did not work, so I had to walk over to the cashier. Before I could make it to the cashier, a verbal dispute broke out between the cashier and a man. The man was so infuriated, he was beating on the bulletproof glass like a gorilla, threatening to kill the cashier of the gas station.
My first thought was, get back in the car. So that’s what I did! But then the Holy Spirit began to speak to me, and he told me, “ you have a word for him”. And I told the Holy Spirit,” I don’t have a word for that angry man”! (Lol) But the Holy Spirit spoke again, and said you have a word for him. So I get out of the car, and he’s walking back to his car, (which is directly on the other side of my gas pump) I look at him with my head down, I wait for him to make eye contact with me, and I used wisdom!!!!
WISDOM:
Knowing the man was just in a rant and being violent, that’s not the time for me to rebuke him and tell him he’s wrong for cussing out the cashier. That’s the moment to affirm him, so that’s exactly what I did. I used wisdom by speaking in the softest and gentleness voice I could muster up. I said “how are you doing today brother?” and when he looked up into my eyes and saw that I was willing to accept him and I wasn’t judging him with my body language or tone, he immediately begin to explain himself about what I just saw him do to the cashier. I am immediately affirmed him, I told him no matter what people say to us, we are kings and queens, and we have to walk with her head tall” and he agreed. I tested the spirit, to see if he would receive anything from me, and when he was willing, I begin to preach to him the word of the Lord.
As I was speaking to him, the Holy Spirit took over my mouth and begin to prophesy to him about how he was the prodigal son and he knew the Lord, and the Lord was waiting for him to return home. Before I could finish speaking, the angry man who is beating on the glass, threatening to kill the cashier, was on his knees at the gas pump, crying in tears like a child. He was ashamed of his actions, and I did not have to rebuke him to get him to see he was wrong. I just had to show him love, and talk to him like he was a person despite what I just saw him doing. I loved him and it broke him down. He was having a moment, and after that, we hugged and he smiled and he drove off the most beautiful happiest man I’ve ever seen in my life. Just by having an experience with the Holy Spirit through me. That’s evangelizing, that’s effective evangelism. Ineffective evangelizing in this situation, would have been to rebuke someone who is already in a rant or rage, which will usually cause them to act out more or disregard what you are saying. 1 Peter 4:8 says, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of sins.”
Let these reflection questions challenge your love walk this evening, as you self examine ways you can be more effective when evangelizing.
Reflection Question:
Will you cover their sins with love?
Will you speak affirming words to someone who’s acting ugly?
Can you look beyond what they are doing, and see them as God sees them?
Can you look beyond the expression of their brokenness, and see the condition of their spiritual heart?
Run well
As a believer of Christ, we are called to the lost sheep, and that means the people who are in low positions and don’t have a great deal of self-awareness, self-esteem, self-control, and tact. Or perhaps, they are just simply spiritually and emotionally immature, and when they become infuriated, they respond to having an emotional meltdown using very ugly words.”
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